Trip to the Library

Amelia has a report due on an animal of her choice - she chose Snowy Owls. I was impressed =) So, today after school I picked her and her friends up and we took a trip to the Library to see what we could find on Snowy Owls. Her friend was doing his report on puffer birds .... both of which we only found a few books on.

A.Skate - skate clinics for children with Autism

Last sunday Ashton was able to participate in an A.Skate event at Girl Warehouse in LA. He participated last November in San Clemente at Ryan Sheckler's skate pad and enjoyed it SO much. This time around he enjoyed it just the same - if not more. What A.Skate is doing for kids on the spectrum is phenomenal. Seeing the smiles on ALL the kids faces and the interactions between the kids and skater volunteers is priceless!  I can't say enough about this organization! Check them out A.Skate Website

Here are a few images I took from the day (warning: photo overload) - 

Thanks A.Skate for another amazing day!!!!

April is Autism Awareness Month

This is a month of awareness that is very dear to my heart. As most of you know that read my blog Ashton is Autistic. He was officially diagnosed around 18 months with Classic Autism, but had clear signs of Autism very very early in life. I won't get into our life story - I just want to raise awareness! =)

This year I chose to show my support by having my nails done in the colors of the autism puzzle piece...

So please, spread the word, donate to Autism organizations, and educate yourselves. With the fast rate of Autism rising chances are you will one day know someone or have a love one that is affected by it!

Two WONDERFUL programs in need of donations:

A.Skate - http://www.askate.org/

Surfers Healing - http://www.surfershealing.org/

Teaching my 8 year old photoshop CS5

We used this photo because, well, it was already up in ps and Amelia looked at it and said "oh, this should be rainbow"! So, I showed her how to add a gradient map layer and she had fun with it. I also showed to how to erase back the seagulls and lower the gradient map opacity ... this is how she liked it =) I think it actually looks really cool.

LEM photo challenge - "Anything"

A few from my week!

It's been a crazy past two weeks. Busy and fun. I really don't have much time to tell you a story, so here is my week in pictures! =)

First my beautiful great niece arrived!

Then we spent the day/evening in Old Town where Ashton found this wonderful hat!

See, isn't she CUTE!

Yes, adorable!

Then Ashton got sick for, oh, about 7 days!

And the kids colored my back window with window crayons! Who knew!?

And the neighbors came over for some fun in the pool

Even though Ashton was sick he tried really hard to enjoy the fun too!

Then we went for a hike it was fun!

Ashton enjoyed the water, of course!

Walking home was a bit frustrating .. kids got LAZY!

Then the kids earned some mulla for ice cream (Thanks generous neighbors)!

Our Tsunami warning!

More from Friday morning .... bye bye ocean!

The fog was insane!

Then we went to the Irish festival - fun, but holy cow was it CROWDED!

Then today Ashton was so CUTE singing sweet noises to me! =)

Well, if you made it this far - thanks. =)